


The Truth

by Onehelluvapilot



Series: Febuwhump [20]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fights, Gen, Hurt Lancelot (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Men Crying, Overwhelmed Lancelot (Merlin), The Knights Find Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Truth Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: When the knights are captured and interrogated for information about Arthur's location, Lancelot is given a truth serum. This has unintended consequences.
Relationships: Lancelot & Percival (Merlin)
Series: Febuwhump [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134998
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71





	The Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by LiGi

When the guards brought Lancelot back this time, everyone who was able to scrambled to their feet, but didn't try to fight back. They were weakened by a week's worth of imprisonment and each of them had been tortured at least once, and they knew that without a proper escape plan resistance was futile and they'd only get punished for it. Percival managed to grab Lancelot before the guards could let go of him, thankfully, because the knight was swaying on his feet and likely would have toppled to the ground without support. Just glaring at the guards, Percy led him over to the back wall of the cell and helped him sit down.

"Are you okay?" Merlin asked softly. He couldn't see any visible injuries on the knight, but bruises could easily be hidden by his clothing like Gwaine's had. His shirt was dry, but that didn't mean they hadn't tried the same kind of water torture they had used on Leon, which had left him with a persistent cough and too scared to even let someone help him drink for a full day.

"No. I feel bad. They made me drink something," Lancelot admitted. His head lolled against Percival's shoulder.

"What kind of something? Poison?" Merlin asked. He surreptitiously reached for the bucket that served as their toilet, which, mercifully, had recently been emptied. "How long ago was it?" Lancelot had been gone for over an hour, but if he induced vomiting now he might still be able to get the poison out of his stomach before it took full effect.

"I don' know. Don't think it was poison. They made me drink it first, then questioned me. I think I…" he trailed off, his eyebrows pinching together unhappily. "I think I told them things."

"What things?" Leon asked, immediately perking up. "Did you tell them where Arthur is?"

"I- I think so. Or at least I told them where I thought he was, it's not like we really know where he is now, we haven't seen him for a week and it's likely he could have moved and isn't at the Valley of the Kings anymore. Maybe he went to Ealdor or the-"

"Lancelot, shut up," Elyan hissed at him. There were still guards standing in the hallway outside their cell who could be listening to them.

"I can't," the knight protested. "I tried, because I know I'm saying things that I shouldn't, but it feels like the words want to come out and so I just start rambling and I don't know how to stop."

"I think they gave you a truth serum," Merlin surmised. "Hopefully it will wear off soon."

"Isn't there anything you can do to make it stop?" Lancelot begged. "I don't want to give away anyone's secrets. Yours especially-" He was cut off when Merlin slapped a hand over his mouth.

"What secret?" Gwaine asked. The warlock turned to him in a panic, his hand slipping off of Lancelot's mouth with the motion.

"His magic," the knight said matter-of-factly. He seemed to realize what he'd said a second too late, his eyes growing huge in horror. "Crap, no, I'm so sorry-"

"He's drugged, he doesn't know what he's saying-" Merlin tried to deny it.

"You just said it was a truth serum," Leon countered.

"I was wrong then! I don't know everything! It's not like I'm some kind of sorcerer!"

"Warlock," Lancelot corrected, unable to help himself.

"Shut up!" Merlin rounded on him with a shout. The drugged knight flinched violently, and Percival glared at the servant as he wrapped his arms around his friend to try to soothe him. "I'm sorry, Lance, but please, please just try to be quiet."

"What, so he doesn't tell us the truth?" Gwaine demanded. "No, actually, I want to hear what he has to say, because apparently you've been lying to us for years!"

"You have too," Lancelot replied, and then the other knight was glaring at him like he wanted to gag him.

"You're a magic user as well?" Leon demanded.

"No!"

"Then what?" Elyan asked. They were all shouting now and Lancelot cringed away from the noise. Percival carefully turned him and pulled him close so that his face was pressed against his chest. That way, any other secrets he revealed would be muffled and hopefully not overheard. Right now, though, he was just rambling apologies.

"I don't have to tell you," Gwaine shouted back.

"We're getting off topic from the fact that Merlin's apparently committed treason," Leon said.

"I didn't!" The servant defended himself. Normally Lancelot would be jumping in to help, to guard his friend and try to diffuse tensions as the cell erupted into shouting, but now he just raised his hands to try to cover his ears and block it out.

"I'm so sorry," Percival heard him mutter. "This is all my fault and I can't fix it."

"Shh, no, it’s not," he tried to reassure him, doing his best to ignore the argument the other four men in the cell were having. He didn't much care that Merlin could use magic, however strange he thought it was that the servant would choose to serve a king who could have him executed for it, and while he was curious about Gwaine's alluded-to secret, that conversation could wait for another day, when Lancelot wasn't drugged and plainly terrified. "It's not your fault, it's that stupid serum," he said, rubbing his best friend's back. Tucking his curly-haired head beneath his chin, he looked up at the others, silently pleading with them to notice how much they were clearly hurting their friend. They were all too wrapped up in their shouting match to notice. He didn’t want to add to the noise, but he didn’t know how else to get their attention. 

“Guys,” he said, not quietly, but not so loudly that he’d hurt Lancelot’s ears, since they were right underneath his head. No one paid him any attention. “GUYS!” he finally barked. Everyone instantly shut up and looked over at him. “Do you think we can save the argument for another time?” He glanced meaningfully down at Lancelot. To their credit, they all did look guilty when they noticed how their friend was curled up fearfully against him.

“I suppose there are more important things to be concentrating on at the moment," Elyan, always the most compassionate of them, said. Merlin just looked relieved that the subject had been changed.

“Yeah,” Leon agreed. Percival was a little surprised by that; he thought the First Knight would want to continue to accuse the warlock of treason, if not straight out try to kill him for it. “Now that they know where Arthur is, we need to get out of here to go help him.” The statement probably wasn’t intended to be a jab at Lancelot giving up the information, but he flinched anyway. At least he’d started to uncurl from his place against Percival’s chest since the shouting had stopped though.

“I’ve got an idea for that,” he announced quickly. “Actually, several, but I have no idea if any of them are good.” His truth-serum-induced rambling turned out to be rather useful for fabricating an escape plan, as he wasn’t as hesitant as usual to shoot down bad ideas in favor of being polite, and he tossed out far more of his own thoughts than he normally would as well through sheer volume of speech. It obviously wasn’t a good thing that he’d been drugged, but Percival thought to himself as he reached down to help Lancelot up to the grate they were escaping through, that it hadn’t been all terrible.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you thought of this fic!


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